Login

Lost your password?

Sign Up

Register

Login

Login

Lost your password?

Register

Monday, August 15, 2022
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion

Africa's
Investment
Gateway

The Exchange
  • Login
  • Register
Subscribe
This Month's Edition
Previous Editions
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Exchange
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Exchange
LOGIN
A concrete drainage pipe. Africa attaining universal access to clean water and sewerage services may be the silver lining to the covid-19 pandemic on the continent. www.theexchange.africa

A concrete drainage pipe. African cities have outdated water supply and sewer systems.

Covid-19 silver lining for Africa’s universal access to clean water

Only 24 per cent of households in Eastern and Southern Africa have a dedicated place for washing hands

by Njenga Hakeenah
May 7, 2020
in Countries
0
Share on FacebookShare on LinkedIn

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the world’s fastest urbanizing region bringing with it a demand for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services.

In slightly under three decades, by 2050, 75 per cent of the global population will be living in urban centres with most of this urban growth concentrated in Africa and Asia according to the United Nations Population Division.

But even before the growth of urban populations hits those projections, Africa is continually struggling to provide WASH services for all its populations. Even in the cities currently, a majority of the residents who live in slums cannot enjoy reliable water supplies.

Kenyan ‘making water’ from air targets global market

Those living in the affluent areas can either have water supplied by bowsers or they have had to sink boreholes to supplement the sporadic supply by the city authorities.

However, all this may change with the advent of the covid-19 coronavirus which has put emphasis on washing hands. Many governments have until now not had any substantive plans to address the incessant water shortage crises hitting most of their populations whether in urban or rural areas.

An Interim Guidance issued on March 19, 2020, by WHO and UNICEF indicated that frequent and proper hand hygiene is one of the most important measures that can be used to prevent infection with the covid 19 virus which has two main routes of transmission through respiratory and poor hygiene.

The two UN bodies say that the covid-19 virus has not been detected in drinking water supplies, and based on current evidence, the risk to water supplies is low since there is no evidence about the survival of the covid-19 virus in drinking water or sewage.

Hygiene baselines pre covid-19 issued by the UNICEF Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa show that conventional, centralized water treatment methods that use filtration and disinfection should inactivate the covid-19 virus.

However, statistics show that only 24 per cent of households in Eastern and Southern Africa have a dedicated place for washing hands with soap and water on-premises.

In addition, only 20 per cent of schools in Eastern and Southern Africa have handwashing facilities with soap and water available to students while the proportion of health care facilities in Eastern and Southern Africa that have functional handwashing facilities with soap and water or hand sanitizer is not known.

With the disease putting a huge strain on available resources and almost halting economies on the continent, governments have been caught flatfooted since the most basic WASH services are the frontline defence against the virus.

Taking the case of Kenya, for instance, millions of Kenyans do not have access to clean water or a functional sewerage system. This exposes these millions of people to diseases while burdening the health facilities with diseases that could have been avoided if there was a clean water supply.

For the socio-economic development of any nation, accessing clean water is utmost.

EA economies to outpace other regional blocks

As of 2019, only 59 per cent of Kenyans had access to basic water services whereas only 29 per cent could access sanitary services. As mentioned earlier, the situation is worse in towns and cities where informal settlements thrive.

But things may change with the African Development Bank (AfDB) supporting the Kenya Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation Program (KTSWSSP) with the aim of improving the access, quality, availability and sustainability of water supply and wastewater management services in multiple towns. This project is with a view to catalysing commercial activities, driving economic growth, improving the quality of life of people and building resilience against climate variability and change.

While vibrant cities are critical for the economic development of the country, it also poses a challenge to the water and sanitation sector, which is currently making efforts to cope with the rapid growth in demand and demographic changes.

Kenya has shown a consistent commitment to the sector reform since their start in 2002 and development partners continue to support the reform process. The GoK through the Ministry of Water and Irrigation continues to pursue development programmes related to water among others in pursuit of attaining universal coverage of water services and sanitation by 2020.

While this is the target year for achieving the plans by the government, it is possible that the covid-19 pandemic could help accelerate the projects.

“We must work to prevent the spread of disease. Improved water, sanitation and hygiene in health facilities is critical to this effort,” said the United National Secretary-General Antonio Guterres upon issuing a Global Call to Action for WASH in Health Facilities, March 2018.

Read: Southern Africa’s economic gloom runs through 2020

Tags: Drinking water suppliesKenya Towns Sustainable Water Supply and Sanitation ProgrammeKTSWSSPSanitation and HygieneSSASub-Saharan AfricaWASHWater

STATE OF ECONOMY - GET THE REPORT

ASSESSING EAST AFRICA

Loading...

Njenga Hakeenah

I have 10 years of experience in multimedia journalism and I use the skills I have gained over this time to meet and ensure goal-surpassing editorial performance. Africa is my business and development on the continent is my heartbeat. Do you have a development story that has to be told? Reach me at [email protected] and we can showcase Africa together.

Related Posts

Fuel price is increasing across the EAC causing increasing cost of living. Photo/Gallo Images
Countries

Inflation grips EAC: Tanzania, Kenya prices hike

August 15, 2022
AfCFTA has developed a tool to measure ease of doing business across African borders. Photo/Reuters
Countries

Africa: How easy is it to do cross border trade in Africa?

August 15, 2022
Blinken Urges Rwanda and Congo to End Support for Warring Militias www.theexchange.africa
Countries

Blinken in Africa: Rwanda, Congo should end support for militias

August 14, 2022
Next Post
COVID-19: Graphic by Richard Regis:Exchange

IMF boosts Kenya, Uganda's virus fight with $1.23 billion

M-TIBA unveils new technology to identify healthcare workers during curfew

M-TIBA unveils new technology to identify healthcare workers during curfew

Virus infection: Freepik.com:Exchange

COVID-19: Tanzania gets Madagascar virus herb; Ministry defends update delay




This months edition

Features

The leaders of the BRICS nations meet at the group’s summit in Osaka in June 2019. Concerns are India might pull out of the group over tensions with China. (Photo/ Reuters)
Countries

What does Russia’s invasion of Ukraine mean for Southern Africa?

by Albert Nangara
August 3, 2022
0

When the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on March 2 to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, African countries accounted...

Read more
Logistics and transport startups will play a major role in enabling Africa’s largest free-trade area (Photo/ Quartz Africa)
Industry and Trade

Trends shaping the future of logistics in African markets

by Albert Nangara
August 3, 2022
0

Digitization of logistics and compliance with sustainability policies will shape the future of logistics in African markets. Digitalization involves the...

Read more
Biometric systems are expected to lead the market for airport security systems in growth over the next five years, as the market increases at an 8 per cent CAGR through 2024 (Photo/ Biometric Updates).
Tech & Business

Machine learning, Artificial Intelligence changing Africa’s Airports

by Albert Nangara
August 2, 2022
0

According to Frontiers, AI has been recognized to have a wide potential to reduce human workload or increase human capabilities...

Read more
www.theexchange.africa/
Investing

ESG global mining and the social license

by Laurence Sithole
August 2, 2022
0

In terms of achieving net zero carbon emissions, the largest mining companies in the world have several options – each...

Read more
Some of the group members learning the components of the new briquette making machine. The machine can produce 500 briquettes per day. www.theexchange.africa
Investing

Reusable, organic charcoal: Answer to Africa’s cooking fuel challenges

by Njenga Hakeenah
August 2, 2022
0

United for Green is working to ensure that Africans do not get to these extremes. By empowering women, the plan...

Read more

News

Banking
Industry & Trade
Investing
Money Deals
Regional Markets
Tech & Biz
Opinion

Countries

Kenya
Tanzania
Uganda
Burundi
Rwanda
Southern Africa
Ethiopia

More

My Account
Contact us
Advertise
About us
Help Center

Subscribers Center

E-paper
Premium Stories
Education Rates
Corporate Subscriptions
Weekely Newsletter

  • My account
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Refund Policy – The Exchange
  • Sitemap

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Banking
  • Industry & Trade
  • Investing
  • Money Deals
  • Regional Markets
  • Tech & Biz
  • Countries
  • Opinion
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart

© 2021 The Exchange - Powered by MediapixManaged by Supported by Digihandler,

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In